How 8 Sci-Fi Gadgets Are Becoming Reality

Muscle-toned vigilantes have all the cool tech toys these days. But while we don't know all the details about the amazing quadcopter in the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, we do know where filmmakers often look for inspiration: defense contractors. In fact, many of the fantastic creations from the most famous summer movie franchises turn into real gadgets and tech.

Movie Tech: Total Recall's Robotaxi

Movie Tech: Total Recall's Robotaxi

Remember when Arnold Schwarzenegger climbed into a robotaxi in the original Total Recall? Yes, I'm trying to forget that scene as well, especially since there's no reason to have an automaton "driving" the vehicle other than comic relief.

Today, if you visit built-from-scratch Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates, you can hop into a real robotaxi. A European company called 2GetThere runs a fleet of 10 autonomous taxis transporting 25,000 people per month. Granted, the drive-by-wire cars follow a prescribed route in a closed city without any other traffic, so they won't get quite as creative with navigation as a New York City cabbie. But Google and others are trying to bring us a future of true self-driving cars, whether we're ready for it or not.

Movie Tech: The Avengers's Holographic Displays

Movie Tech: The Avengers's Holographic Displays

Real Tech: Head-up display on windshields

Throughout The Avengers, Iron Man taps on videos, swipes through screens, and adjusts sliders on his holographic displays. Tech labs around the world are trying to build Tony Stark's technology, but the closest thing we have in production today is actually the 2012 BMW 3-Series. As you're driving, you can see your current speed, the posted speed, and an arrow pointing the way for navigation. The display for speed has been around for several years—it's even in a Buick LaCrosse. GM is experimenting with pop-up displays on the windshield, too, and there's a pop-up HUD on many modern warplanes. They work by emitting an image at an angle above the dash that you perceive as floating in space.

If you want a pedestrian augmented-reality experience, though, you might have to wait for the consumer version of Google Glass.